


Photographs

by Anonymous



Category: Batman (Comics), DC Comics
Genre: Shiva has a heart, its just buried under ten feat of concrete, mentions of the Batfamily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 18:15:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20440343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Even the great Lady Shiva has moments of weakness, when it comes to the daughter she left behind.





	Photographs

Shiva rarely uses the internet. It's an unruly human device. Not helpful to her like a katana or shuriken. Yet, a day before a job in Mumbai, she spots an Internet cafe, and acts impulsively for the first time in years. Walking in discreetly.

She finds a computer and turns it on. Letting it whirr and buzz to life. When its little chime rings, and the homepage opens to her, she hits the internet tab. She then stares at the desktop for several minutes. Unsure what to do.

Why is she doing this? It won't help her mission. It won't help keep her undercover, quite the opposite actually. It's asinine.

Shiva could look up pictures of kittens, Carolyn always liked kittens. _No._ She shakes her head. _No clinging to the past. No reminders._

Instead she types something else out. Cassandra Wayne. She knows there's no way she'd still be calling herself a Cain.

A few news stories come up. Mentions of Cassandra at Wayne galas and parties. Out with her adoptive siblings. A picture of her and Bruce donating money to several ASL schools, sits at the top of a lengthy article.

Shiva clicks out of them soon. There's nothing there of true interest. Nothing that gives her insight into the baby she gave away. And Shiva craves insight, like she craves blood, and glory, and death.

She scrolls down farther, and an Instagram account pops up, _cassmeoutside_. She hits it, and the screens lights up. Various pictures taking up the space.

Shiva reads her description. _Just a Wayne girl against the world, trying to stop @toddirific from eating her food._ Shiva bites her inner cheek. Resisting the urge to smile.

She feels an odd hint off approval when she sees her follower count. _Three million and counting. I hear that's good. It seems she's making an impact. Even in her socialite life._

She clicks the first picture, and sees Cassandra smiling at the camera. Standing in front of what Shiva can only assume is a prize rose brush.

Her hair is styled like a 1940s film siren, and has blood red roses tucked in the back. Her black dress with rose prints, (_she likes continuity_, Shiva muses,) flares out at the waist, before stopping at her knees. Jewelry sits on her ears and neck, and she's beaming at whoever's taking the photo.

The caption simply reads, _Party ready_, and Shiva continues to snoop. Some pictures are simple selfies, while others stick out to the girl's birth mother. Like her with the other adoptive Wayne children, as well as the blood son, Talia's offspring.

In a particular picture she's standing beside the circus boy, with the Demon's Heir slung over his shoulder. The heir to the League looks rather undignified as he fights against the acrobat's hold, while Cassandra stands beside them. Laughing freely. A wide grin on her face.

Shiva is slightly taken aback at the sight of it. She's seen Cassandra smile. She's seen it in the other various pictures she's looked at, since she's been in the cafe. But this smile is different. It isn't practiced. It isn't her doing what's expected. _No, she's smiling because_ _she's happy._

Shiva knows how to smile, though she does it rarely. It is unnecessary as a great assassin. Yet, she could still fake a heart winning smile, and no one would be the wiser.

She shakes away the soul opening thoughts, and contemplates closing the computer. Leaving before this awakens something else in her. In the end, her better judgement doesn't win out. She continues to scroll.

She lands on another picture that stands out from the rest. It's an old one. Back from when her daughter was younger, but obviously after her time with Cain. He'd never waste time for something like pictures.

Cassandra stands in front of a Christmas tree in a bat onesie. Several gifts are in her hands, and draped over her body. Behind her is a grinning Bruce, and the circus boy as well, who's passing a gift to someone off camera.

Shiva stares and stares at the picture. Her eyes widened as much as she'll allow. She's never seen Cassandra so young. The times they've met she'd been a woman grown, and nowhere near as small as she is here.

She's briefly reminded that she had been even smaller then this as an infant, but Shiva barely remembers that time. Cain had taken her almost instantly, not wanting her _weak motherly instincts_ to ruin his plan.

She had scoffed at him then, but the more she looks at the picture, letting her finger trace her daughter's face through the screen, she realizes he might've been right in some way. If she feels like this looking at a picture of her in her preteen tears, she can't imagine how she would've felt if she had been allowed to spend time with her as a baby.

Shiva stands from the computer, turning it off, but not before sending the Christmas picture to her burner phone. She finds a place nearby that can print off the picture, then she tucks it away in her pocket. Out of sight, but not of mind.

She returns to her hideout, and pulls out the picture. Her eyes taking it in once more. She can see Cassandra's smile better now. Can see the joy in her eyes. The radiant excitement and contentment.

Once more her finger traces the outline of her only child's face. Taking it in. She looks like Shiva, that is obvious to all, but she looks even more Carolyn. Almost a spitting image. The same curve of the brow. The duplicate length of the nose. The identical full lips.

Shiva lets out a shaky sigh, and puts away the picture again. Her emotions becoming too overwhelming.

She lays on her crappy cramped bed for awhile. Her eyes trained on the ceiling fan above her. A half hearted attempt at meditation. It doesn't work, and she gets off the bed with a huff.

She grabs the burner phone, and plunks down in the faded chair in the corner. She might not be the best at technology, but she knows someone who is. She messages a former League member, and sends them a simple message. _Get me Cassandra Cain's number._

They respond an hour later with the digits, and she reminds herself to forward them some cash in thanks later.

She stares at it for a few moments, before typing it in. She attaches the picture to the message, and contemplates her words. She runs a few different messages through her head, before landing on one.

_It seems you find the frivolous holiday of Christmas enjoyable. I'm glad. We all have our weaknesses. Even I. I hope this upcoming holiday season is tolerable for you as well. - S_

Shiva doesn't let herself think about if she's signing as Shiva or Sandra. It opens up too many things she's locked away.

She slides the phone into her pocket, and climbs into bed. Needing sleep before she leaves the city in the early morning.

When she goes to depose of the phone before she heads for Bhutan, she sees a message lighting up her screen. It consists of a series of emojis from Cassandra's number. Shiva allows herself a brief small smile as she reads. A Bat emoji, Christmas tree, and red heart sit in a row, and she knows that’s the most she'll get in response.

She makes a quick stop before she leaves the country, and gets the screenshot she took of the message printed. She hides it away with the Christmas picture, in the bottom of her bag.

As she drives across the border, Shiva thinks that maybe not all of Sandra Wu-San is dead, for she lingers in quiet moments, and in her daughter's smile.


End file.
